Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Dear Mister God, last week I asked if you loved everybody, even my friend who doesn't know you the way I do. Last night, my friend told me that you had just given him strength and courage to do something new and exciting and he said that it couldn't be anyone or anything else other than you who had blessed him with these gifts. Mister God, you are real to me and there is truly only one of you in the whole wide world. Please continue to guide my friend and may he have confidence to give you thanks the way he knows how. Thank you. Amen.